For Sakmongkol AK47, Malaysia’s future lies beyond just Umno

He marvels at the way 38 of his party men won their parliamentary seats
with sparse resources; he calls his colleagues the most well-prepared
team in the House; he says that he feels nothing but comfort with this
group who fight for good government and good governance.

"They are committed and dedicated, and I never feel infringed or
overwhelmed by the Chinese nature of DAP. I feel very comfortable being
in their environment and they have never stopped me from speaking out
about Malay issues," Mohd Ariff told The Malaysian Insider in an
interview.

Now comes the hard part for the former Umno state assemblyman who
contested and won the Raub parliamentary seat in the white of DAP: help
the party officials convince more Malays across the country that the
party of Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh, Lim Guan Eng are not the ogres or
threat to their political power as sketched by Umno leaders, most
recently former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"We have to destroy the myth that DAP is bad for the Malays. We are not
out to grab political power despite what Mahathir is asserting.

"Even if all the Chinese were to unite under one banner, it is
mathematically impossible, they would only form 24 percent, and Mahathir
knows this," said the ardent blogger who goes with the nom de guerre
Sakmongkol AK47.

In an opinion piece in the New Straits Times, Dr Mahathir said that the
DAP had persuaded the Chinese voters to reject the concept of power
sharing and make a grab for political power. The former prime minister
was slammed for his skewed view and reminded that Malays, Chinese and
Indians supported Pakatan Rakyat in GE13.

Mohd Ariff recognises the scaremongering tactic and knows that it is
targeted at mainly rural folk. His job was to convince Malays that
reassertion of rights and privileges would not solve their poverty and
economic woes, which can only be addressed by a good government with
good policies.

"After 55 years of Umno rule, the Malays are still lagging behind.
Compare that with the fact that almost all who hold positions of power
are Malays.

"To me this shows that they are only helping the privileged Malays," he
said, adding that corruption, nepotism and cronyism, which he said was
part of Umno’s political DNA, convinced him to leave Umno in January
last year and become one of a sprinkling of Malays in the DAP.

He knows that persuading the Malays that the DAP is not to be feared
will not be a walk in the park but facing tough challenges does not give
him wobbly knees.

A one-term state assemblyman in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s
constituency between 2004-2008, he spent the last few years in
political wilderness.

He became a blogger and found a following with his biting commentaries on politics, especially on the shenanigans within Umno.

In late 2011, his articles caught the eye of DAP’s national organising
secretary Anthony Loke. A series of meetings followed and on January 8
2012, Mohd Ariff and a fellow blogger Aspan Alias attended the DAP
convention as observers.

Later that day, secretary general Lim Guan Eng told us he was going to
make an announcement that we were joining the party. There were no
promises of being given positions in the party or being fielded as a
candidate in GE13.

But just before the elections on May 5, Mohd Ariff was given a letter,
naming him as the DAP’s candidate for Raub, the seat owned by the MCA
for decades.

Just a sparse letter from the party headquarters without any election funds enclosed.

“So its sendiri cari. Imagine all of us DAP candidates using our own
resources to fight formidable enemies who have unlimited resources," he
recalled.

He polled 23,415 votes against the 20,601 votes obtained by Barisan Nasional's Hoh Khai Mun.
"It was good timing for a Malay to be standing in Raub. The seat had
been contested by a Chinese for over 40 years," he said, pointing out
that Malays, who make up 49 percent of voters in the constituency,
wanted a Malay representative.

In the interview with The Malaysian Insider, Mohd Ariff also spoke about:

- Najib and the coming Umno elections

Najib will face his toughest challenge as a leader in the coming Umno elections.

"The ground is clamouring for an assertive leader, which Najib is not.
As a person, he is decent, I have benefitted from his personal kindness.
But in terms of leadership, he does not possess Mahathir's critical
thinking. Right or wrong, Mahathir decides, whereas Najib is indecisive,
and reluctant to surround himself with good people," he added.

"Najib's philosophy is to keep close to him those who support him as
Umno president, so that he can stay on as PM. This is wrong, selfish and
not good for the country," he asserted.

- On future leaders of Malaysia

Mohd Ariff added that the future of the country belonged to the likes
of Umno youth chief Khairy Jamaludin, and opposition MPs such as Rafizi
Ramli, Dr Ong Kian Ming, Liew Chin Tong, Tony Pua and Anthony Loke,
labelling them as change agents for a better Malaysia.

He, however, cautioned that Khairy's career in Umno politics could be
shortlived, given that older politicians in Umno did not like him,
because sometimes his views did not gel with those espoused by the
ruling party. - July 31, 2013.